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Twenty-eight telecommunications companies, including KDDI, Softbank and Rakuten Mobile, will submit a written opinion to the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications on NTT (holding company), making NTT Docomo a wholly owned subsidiary.
According to the company, the statement states that NTT’s acquisition of DoCoMo as a wholly owned subsidiary will lead to the integration of NTT and the return of NTT’s monopoly, and the loss of a fair competitive environment may affect the interests of the companies. users. It will be a request to improve the competitive environment.
Reviews are submitted by MNO operators such as KDDI, Softbank, Rakuten Mobile, and Okinawa Cellular, as well as MVNO operators such as Optige, QTnet, Soracom, Big Robe, and LINE Mobile, and 28 companies such as UQ Communications. Additionally, nine companies, including Jupiter Telecom, agree to the purpose.
Mr. Takashi Kishida, Deputy Director General, Public Relations Headquarters, KDDI
At the meeting, Mr. Takashi Kishida, Deputy General Director of KDDI Public Relations Headquarters, Mr. Toshihiko Matsui, Deputy General Director of Softbank Public Relations Headquarters, and Mr. Yoichiro Koike, Executive Director of Rakuten Mobile, will be on stage. He explained the purpose of the opinion on behalf of.
Background of the docomo separation
Docomo is a company that was spun off in 1992 to separate NTT’s mobile communications business in the first place. It split after a political discussion about the ideal status of a huge NTT, and with the NTT Group, “Docomo separation to separate” capital control “and” bottleneck equipment (fiber optic network, etc. “). ) “from a large company called NTT.” Fair competition with competitors is said to have been required. At that time, capital control was to be separated by “decreasing investment rate” and “full privatization”.
In 1999, NTT was divided into “NTT (holding)”, “NTT East / West” and “NTT Communications (NTT Com)”, but in the report at that time, they did not have a holding company and both became independent from each other. It was about building a competitive relationship. However, when the lid was opened, it was found that a holding company existed, which is why it is said to have established prohibited act regulations to create a fair competitive environment.
This time, by making Docomo a wholly owned subsidiary of NTT, it will go against the board’s report in 1999.
Commercial content stipulated in the NTT Law
The NTT Act stipulates the purpose and commercial content of NTT (holding company), and stipulates the holding of shares in NTT East and West, advising and conducting research on telecommunications technology. It notes that turning Docomo into a wholly owned subsidiary may not be in line with the commercial content stipulated by the NTT Act in the first place.
The capital connection between Docomo and NTT East and West will lead to the integration of NTT, which has virtually enormous market power, and the “Joining Docomo Group as NTT Com” was executed, which was a meeting to turn Docomo into a wholly owned subsidiary. If so, market power will increase even more.
Competition policy rebellion “should be the subject of public debate”
If we want to make Docomo a wholly owned subsidiary in violation of these policies to create a fair competitive environment, it is necessary to review competitive policies such as “policy measures related to NTT ideals” and “fair competition requirements”. .. It notes that if competition policy is to be reviewed in response to changes in the environment, the necessary competition policy must first be examined and discussed.
The measures taken so far regarding NTT’s ideal state have been implemented based on policy discussions in the council, and the future ideal state should be discussed as an extension of the council, due to changes in the competitive environment. It cannot be allowed to become a wholly owned subsidiary “without collapsing.”
Create competition rules in response to changes in the environment.
Fiber optics that support 5G communication will require more fiber optics for delicate base station deployment in the future. NTT East and West are said to have a 75% stake in fiber optic equipment. In addition, it owns power poles nationwide inherited from the pre-private Denden Corporation and around 7,200 station buildings nationwide, and the NTT Group, which owns these bottleneck facilities, has an even greater advantage in the it was 5G. Point to have.
To build a fair competitive environment, NTT Group (Docomo) and competitors need to be able to use NTT East and West bottleneck facilities under “fully” equivalent conditions and environments.
For example, even if the wholesale rate for connection is provided to Docomo and other companies at exactly the same rate, if the wholesale rate itself is high, it is not a fair competitive environment. Since Docomo is a wholly owned subsidiary of NTT, even if the wholesale price increases, it does not affect the overall profit (only money moves between groups), but other companies are directly linked to business performance.
Furthermore, if the interface at the time of provision is provided in favor of the NTT Group, it means that the same conditions in appearance can be ensured, but it is noted that it may not be possible to guarantee a substantial equivalence. What to do.
In this regard, Mr. Matsui of Softbank said that NTT will ensure equity, but said that there are doubts about its effectiveness, and commented that some measures that go a step beyond the current situation should be decided in discussions.
Rakuten Mobile’s Mr. Konoike also noted that “although we are leasing NTT’s fiber optic network for base station installation, the high connection fee may hamper a fair competitive environment for new entrants.” did.
A sense of crisis that 66 becomes 100
At the meeting, telecom operators other than the NTT Group expressed a sense of crisis over turning Docomo into a wholly owned subsidiary.
Even now, NTT (holding company) owns about 66% of the shares of Docomo, and a certain amount of control is working. However, when this ownership rate reaches 100%, we will move to a “management policy based on the intentions and ideas of the holding company” without considering general shareholders and the market.
Originally, the docomo shares held by NTT (holding company) should be sold in stages to fully privatize docomo, but it will fit into the original envelope and the huge NTT group will once again dominate the market. I felt a sense of crisis.
The companies that presented the opinion do not have the means to stop the TOB at this stage, and the opinion calls for “public discussion” and “establishment of competition rules in response to changes in the environment.” Be.
Regarding the “competition rules”, “Guarantee a perfect equivalence between the NTT Group and the competitors in terms of the use of bottleneck equipment such as the NTT East and West optical fibers and the strict operation of the rules” and ” NTT East and West and Docomo “Clearly prohibiting unification,” he said.
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